Questions for NJ

Buy online and have it delivered to your home. You pay sales tax in the state you register it. I can't really help you more because at the time Tesla was able to fill out all the NJ paperwork and get my temp tags. The Christie change aka tesla "no longer allowed to sell in nj" just means they cannot fill out the paperwork for you anymore. Now you have to do the legwork. You can still buy in NJ by ordering online but the media loves the headlines "tesla cannot sell in nj" technically tesla cannot be a dealership anymore and this you cannot buy at the stores but you can still order online. For me, I actually had the car delivered to Norristown and I picked it up at the service center. Car was registered in NJ this no sales tax paid.

hanlan said:

Thanks...i guess does/can Tesla handle a tradein?

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Tesla partnered with Autonation for trade-ins.
see here

hanlan said:

Thanks...i guess does/can Tesla handle a tradein?

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Tesla handles trade-ins through a partner, AutoNation. Many people were able to find a better price through other channels.

hanlan said:

I'm relatively new here and seriously considering getting a MS P85 for my next car, but have a few questions regarding buying in NJ.

1. Does anyone know if the whole DMV/Christie debacle has been sorted out?

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it is as sorted out as it is going to get for awhile.

hanlan said:

2. How do I buy one? Online, at the "galleries" in NJ or make a trip to Chelsea?

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at the galleries all you can do is ask, as per the law, you can do the whole thing online or you can go to chelsea, great people there

hanlan said:

3. How does a trade-in work? I know this sounds dumb...but I'm used to regular dealerships

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I can't give you the particulars, tesla does not do trade ins, they farm it out

hanlan said:

4. If you buy in NY, do you still pay NY sales tax even though in NJ the MS has zero sales tax? Or does NY not charge sales tax since you're registering it out-of-state?

Thanks!

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in most cases the sales taxes are due only to the state where you are registering the car regardless of where the car is purchased

hanlan said:

Thanks for all the info. One last question. How did the range hold up this cold NJ winter?

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Spectacular!!

hanlan said:

Thanks for all the info. One last question. How did the range hold up this cold NJ winter?

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On a full charge in the dead of winter and driving 100mph you can still get 150 miles range easy. For those that drive more sanely, range is basically unaffected haha maybe lose 10% range but that's entirely due to running the heater in the car which can use something like up to 6kW per hour. The Model S has by far the most advanced thermal management system for car batteries in the world so it doesn't suffer the problems that other EVs exhibit.

I suppose you can also call/email Tesla in California, about those sales/trade-in related questions which the galleries can't answer. Hopefully.

hanlan said:

Thanks...i guess does/can Tesla handle a tradein?

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Also try CarMax

yobigd20 said:

You pay sales tax in the state you register it.

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apvbguy said:

in most cases the sales taxes are due only to the state where you are registering the car regardless of where the car is purchased

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OK, I'm being pedantic here, but this is not entirely accurate. Bear with me. I have done several "buy in one state, register in another" transactions, so I've run into this a few times. Remember, the Dept of Revenue calls it "sales and use tax", and these transactions include a sales portion (where the car was bought) and a use portion (where it is registered).

The sales transaction occurs in the state in which you took delivery. This is generally assumed to be the selling dealer's state, unless it was delivered to you in a different state and you have all necessary documentation to prove it was delivered to a different state. In most cases, you are required to pay the "sales tax" to this state.

When you go to register the car, you must pay "use tax" to your state of registration (presumably your home state). In every case I know of, you are given a dollar-for-dollar credit for the "sales tax" paid previously, up to the amount of required "use tax". If the "sales tax" is higher than the "use tax", you're out of luck (no refund for excess tax paid).

This becomes a (big) issue if you (or someone else) ever try to register the car in the state where the car was purchased and there is no record of sales tax being paid to that state. They can hold up your registration until you settle with the Dept of Revenue for sales tax, back penalties and interest, etc. This is a huge PITA. Don't ask me how I know.

Many (most?) dealers I have dealt with seem to be oblivious to this subtlety (even though they can get screwed for not collecting tax due to their state).


Of course, since your Tesla will be delivered to you in NJ, with all the required paperwork, and NJ doesn't charge sales tax on electric cars, apparently this is all a moot point to the OP (you lucky dog). But buy a car from a New York Chevy dealer and register it in CT - you better get it all right if there's even a remote chance of moving to NY with the car in the future.

tga said:

OK, I'm being pedantic here, but this is not entirely accurate. Bear with me. I have done several "buy in one state, register in another" transactions, so I've run into this a few times. Remember, the Dept of Revenue calls it "sales and use tax", and these transactions include a sales portion (where the car was bought) and a use portion (where it is registered).

The sales transaction occurs in the state in which you took delivery. This is generally assumed to be the selling dealer's state, unless it was delivered to you in a different state and you have all necessary documentation to prove it was delivered to a different state. In most cases, you are required to pay the "sales tax" to this state.

When you go to register the car, you must pay "use tax" to your state of registration (presumably your home state). In every case I know of, you are given a dollar-for-dollar credit for the "sales tax" paid previously, up to the amount of required "use tax". If the "sales tax" is higher than the "use tax", you're out of luck (no refund for excess tax paid).

This becomes a (big) issue if you (or someone else) ever try to register the car in the state where the car was purchased and there is no record of sales tax being paid to that state. They can hold up your registration until you settle with the Dept of Revenue for sales tax, back penalties and interest, etc. This is a huge PITA. Don't ask me how I know.

Many (most?) dealers I have dealt with seem to be oblivious to this subtlety (even though they can get screwed for not collecting tax due to their state).


Of course, since your Tesla will be delivered to you in NJ, with all the required paperwork, and NJ doesn't charge sales tax on electric cars, apparently this is all a moot point to the OP (you lucky dog). But buy a car from a New York Chevy dealer and register it in CT - you better get it all right if there's even a remote chance of moving to NY with the car in the future.

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maybe that is how things are done in the commonwealth, I've never heard of the dept of revenue, it must be a MA thing.
I've bought numerous cars in numerous states(NY, NJ, FLA) and excepting one special case the sales taxes are remitted to where the car is registered regardless of where the car was delivered.
regarding moving, many states are like FLA, if the move takes place more than 6 months from the purchase of the vehicle no addition sales taxes are required to be paid.
YMMV

apvbguy said:

maybe that is how things are done in the commonwealth, I've never heard of the dept of revenue, it must be a MA thing.
I've bought numerous cars in numerous states(NY, NJ, FLA) and excepting one special case the sales taxes are remitted to where the car is registered regardless of where the car was delivered.
regarding moving, many states are like FLA, if the move takes place more than 6 months from the purchase of the vehicle no addition sales taxes are required to be paid.
YMMV

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I'll freely admit just about everything MA does in relation to setting, collecting, and spending taxes is screwy. Again, it's a nit, but the point was to make sure taxes get paid to the jurisdictions who (think they) are entitled to them, or they can get pissy down the road.

MA has a similar 6 month exemption for moving in from out of state, but it only applies if the car was bought, registered, and titled out of MA. Buy from a MA dealer without paying MA sales tax (because you and the dealer thought it was due to your home state at registration), register out of state, move to MA 5 years later and try to bring the car with you, and you will have a problem.

I'm not saying it's that way everywhere, but just be sure beforehand.

I'd call the nearest Tesla Service Center (that is obviously not in NJ) as they probably have experience on how the cars get sold to people in NJ. Or, as someone else said, call Tesla's main office and ask how you are supposed to buy a car. Also ask how the titling and other paperwork is then handled. IMHO, get all the info direct from Tesla first.

Good luck, hope you can get one!!!

-m

I was in NJ the other day and Tesla folks indicated you could still get a 'driver experience' to try out the car... Just not a test drive.

The teams cannot discuss pricing, however, when I purchased my Tesla (in a recently friendly state), I met a Tesla 'owner advisor' to discuss the car etc but I bought the car from my house, online (and theoretically anywhere). Then emailed the local team to let them know I had clicked go.